Steelbound
by Blink Blackstar
Summary: Far away and with no choice, Mina has to fight in a conflict unknown to her to save the ones she loves from an ancient menace. But what she may discover may involve even darker secrets, including the key to the disappearance of a crown prince.
1. Foreword

**Foreword**

Hi, so if you're reading this, I just wanted to say thank you for being interested in my story! I know this foreword is probably not what you're looking for, but please hear me out because you'll need to know some things so that you can understand certain aspects of the story, so thank you so much again in advance for your patience.

So for starters, this is a rewriting of an old story I had here in . I feel like I've grown a lot since then in terms of storytelling, so I wanted to give this a shot with brand new ideas and conflicts and hopefully you'll like it, whether you read the original or not.

In terms of storyline, I wanted some clarifications:

Since this is the Sonic Underground universe, there's some things borrowed from Archie Sonic while keeping a storyline of it's own. I intend to do the same here and borrow some material from the comic while taking some liberties, because this is still a different universe from the Archie Sonic comics.

Some essential changes (that I can remember on the top of my head as of right now) are:

Mina's backstory: In this universe she's not a freedom fighter, singer only. Knew her father and not Sonic. Ash is not present.

The events of the Iron Dominion happened, although the mess with Mina happens differently here, you'll see.

Certain characters are on a different situation (ie. not dead or dead, etc).

That's all I can remember on top of my head, I'll post more stuff as soon as I can remember.

Anyways, thank you for reading and enjoy the fic! Reviews and critiques are appreciated as long as you keep them civil.


	2. Mina: Away from Home

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any other of the characters or concepts here, they are of the property of SEGA, DiC Entertainment and Archie Comics. Majdrin belongs to The Mouse of Anon.

 **AN:** Well, here goes nothing. Here's the first chapter, I hope you guys enjoy!

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 **Mina: Away from Home**

"It's ok, it's ok..." A mother behind her consoled her crying child amongst the other captives of the wagon, this image made her want her own mother's contact, but to her misfortune, she was far away in another wagon.

She looked around, staring at the others. It seemed like a great part of Knothole's people were in the train alongside her.

Mina could only hear and feel the rumbling of the wheels of the train underneath her feet as she shook in her place, the familiarity of a previous traumatic event years ago had her paralyzed in fear. It seemed like seconds ago when she was at the concert, planning the gig for that same night...

"I don't think it's a good idea." Max adviced, while tuning his guitar, she'd often look in his direction, albeit absent mindedly.

"I don't think there's much of a choice, if we're to recruit more people to the cause..." Mach lit himself a smoke. "We have to step out of our zone of comfort."

The room suddenly smelled of cigarettes, but that wasn't bothered her but the uncertainty of her own choices. Mina fiddled with her ring, after a lot of what had happened in the previous months with the Iron Dominion and NICOLE, she had been having second thoughts about leaving Knothole for a while.

"What do you think Mina?" They asked her, snapping her out of her train of thought.

"Eh? Uh..." She looked away in shame. "I mean, I get what you mean Mach, but... I don't- I don't feel comfortable-"

"Ah, you guys are unbelievable." Mach lamented. "Are you really that afraid?"

Mina lowered her head embarrassed. Max cut the rabbit off, signalling at Mina with a head motion, he went quiet for a little while before correcting himself.

"Fine, fine. We can discuss that later, for now we can perform here then."

He walked out along with Sharps to tune out their instruments and do some sound testing. Max remained behind, which prompted Mina to dread the unavoidable as he approached her, placing a hand over her shoulder. "Mina, how are you feeling?"

It took her a little while to answer as she tried to place her words together. "I'll be fine."

She pretended to be focused on the playlist of that night to keep him away, to no avail. "Have you been having more nightmares recently?"

Mina put the playlist down, sighing. Indeed, the nightmares had not stopped ever since the fall of the Iron Dominion. After all that she had seen, she'd often get vivid dreams about being legionized herself, at the hands of either NICOLE or sometimes an unidentified enemy.

She had tried warning others about this potential danger but it won her more harm than good, getting her in trouble with people who were supportive of the AI. Through the years, these feelings of rejection towards her vanished, but she still couldn't quell the deep trauma she had endured, if anything, it had numbed her significantly.

"I'll be fine."

That she thought. She had barely put her mouth to the microphone when the drones attacked. Knothole was supposed to be the safest place on Mobius and yet she was at the least safe when they attacked, wrecking havok all over the small town.

Those who had not been injured or killed were captured, including her and her mother, her voice was still resented over her screaming when they separated them both as her mother was placed two wagons behind hers, she hoped for a brief second that her bandmates were unharmed at least. It was like years ago all over again, and the feeling of the cold steel beneath her feet only made the familiarity of the situation more vivid and traumatic.

She was broken away from her thoughts when the iron door suddenly slid open, her captors were masked, hooded and clad in uniforms of black, she noticed the logo on their sleeves and panicked internally: the Dark Legion. Techno-terrorists. She knew these men were dangerous and not people to mess with from the first glance.

"Alright, stand up!" One of them yelled. No one dared to hesitate, as they stood up to be rounded in a line and taken into the next wagon into the unknown. Mina tried to make herself unseen for a little while as soon as she heard the distant screaming and pleading from the next wagon. She could feel her breathing falter and tears started welling up in her face in despair.

She suddenly felt a cold hand on her shoulder, which almost made her scream if it weren't for the fact that she knew she could not and turned around to face a hooded figure that was behind her in the line.

"It'll be fine." He smiled at her. She couldn't make a lot from his face because of the poor lighting, except for maybe his icy blue eyes, which struck her particularly. "Promise."

She was suddenly dragged by her arm by one of the soldiers. "I told you to come!" He kept dragging her with him to the next wagon as she continued staring at the man who had spoken to her before also being taken alongside her to the next wagon.

When she went into the next door, Mina froze at the sight. Dozens and dozens of capsules laid on the ground, piled on top of the other as if in shelves. She could see an older person get sedated without much of a fight and put into one of the capsules, probably to be frozen in some sort of cryosleep. She couldn't help but feel something spark in her at the sight, she knew she couldn't go there.

She tried to fight the soldier off, screaming at him to let her go and desperately trying to squirm away from his grasp for a good few seconds.

She didn't know quite what happened after he smacked her on the face in anger, numbing her for a second as he screamed slurs at her. But she could swear that the soldier fled with great force towards the wall, smashing into it. The other soldiers tried to make sense of what was going on as much as her as she struggled to stand up on her feet, holding her head, which was pounding in pain.

She noticed the man who had talked with her earlier there, his fist held up high at the height of his head and in the direction where the soldier was sent flying. The rest of the men seemed to catch on suddenly and charged at him, which made her cower towards the ground. She could hear them fight besides her, but couldn't see much besides pieces of mechanical equipment, blood and teeth that fell to the ground from within the wires of the capsules that connected to the floor. She suddenly heard a clanking sound and turned around to see a blade-like weapon fall on the ground, probably from one of the guards fought by the mysterious man.

She held it on her hand for a moment before being confronted by another soldier from behind. She screamed as she instinctively lunged forward, electrocuting him on contact with the blade. He fell on the ground towards her feet unconscious, making her flinch away. She remained numb for a moment, staring at the blade before turning around to the fight behind her. Her rescuer was holding one of the soldiers off his hair, who was now unmasked, the man spoke in a terrifyingly calm voice.

"Where is he?"

"I don't- I don't know-"

The hooded one lost no time as he tore through the mechanical dread from the echidna's head, deaf to his screaming. He then continued with the other two soldiers, who were still struggling to keep the pace. As he fought them, he kept asking the same questions, and the more he increased the brutality, the more his voice rose and changed to a more agressive tone.

"Where is he?"

"Where's Majdrin?"

"Where the hell is he?!"

The last time, the soldier didn't give much of an answer except for a spit to his face, which made his attacker fling him against a door at the side of the wagon. The door's seams weakened at the force of the impact of the soldier's body, it was quite surprising that he didn't explode in a million pieces after that attack.

It was after this that five more soldiers went into the wagon, one of them was dressed differently, probably their commander from what Mina could tell. She felt a slight sense of dread at the sight as everyone turned stiff, strengthening her grip on the blade.

The commander pointed his gun at the man, who prepared himself to keep going with the fight.

Things went south suddenly when the commander noticed Mina there, grasping the blade. Taking her for an easier target in her eyes, he turned his weapon at her. She gasped a little, immobile as soon as she heard the shot go off, surprised for a brief second that she was still alive before noticing that the mysterious person had taken the shot for her before falling to the ground, grunting in pain.

She crouched next to him, still frightened of what they'd do to them both, the shaky, brittle sound of the previously damaged door echoing on her ears. Without much previous thought, she held her savior by his arms and kicked the door open. Luckly, she had always had strong legs and powerful speed, which she was thankful for at that moment. As soon as the door fled open, with the screaming and the shooting behind her, she jumped from the train with the man by her side, falling off the wagon and rolling down the little hill to the woods below.

They were stopped by a tree deep down the hilltop, and Mina quickly reincorporated herself to see the train above pass by, cowering behind the tree. She was about to bolt towards it, suddenly reminded of her mother who was still on the train, but was stopped by the man's painful moaning behind her. A wave of disillusion washed on her as soon as they passed by and disappeared from her gaze, and a small "no" escaped her lips. She was then broken from her trance and crouched next to the hooded one, who was pressing on the wound on his side. "Let me see-"

"Don't touch me!"

Mina jumped back, startled by his sudden growling. "You are hurt..."

"Yeah." He huffed, his voice was a little raspy, but otherwise soft. "I _noticed_."

She brushed aside the witty remark to check on his wound, dragging the edge of his jacket upwards to take a closer look at the wound from within his fur. He quickly removed her hand away with surprising care.

"We need to get you to a doctor."

"I'll be fine, ok?"

She got closer to him. "The bullet went clean through your flesh through the other side, you need medical attention, I think I see a town nearby-."

"No." He stood up with a little difficulty on his step. "I am fine, I just need to-"

He couldn't finish his sentence before falling flat on his face, which prompted a little yelp from her. She remained like this for a few seconds, her mind a blur.

 _What now?_ She asked herself as the dark of the night surrounded her.

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Well guys, there's the review button, don't forget to leave one! Thank you so much for reading!


	3. Sonic: Raserei

A/N: Oh boy, second chapter. Hopefully this one will be better written hah (don't mind me). Anyways you know the drill, I do not own any of these characters yadda yadda. Please if you like what you're reading please leave a review below, it motivates me.

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 **Sonic: Raserei**

"Boy, what a mess."

Sonic tried to keep a good face, not wanting Tails to notice his worry. The damage to Knothole had been significant and a large amount of people had vanished at the hands of the Dark Legion. Had the attack not been stopped in time, things would have proven fatal to the resistance.

His little brother turned to him, frowning slightly. "What is it bud?"

"Aren't you worried? You know what this means, right?"

"Don't be silly. Of course I do." Sonic's expression changed, not bothering to hide his feelings anymore. "Of course I'm worried."

They reached a little Freedom Fighter base in the middle of the town, which had also sustained quite some damage, but luckily for them not enough to be permanent. There, amongst the soldiers, a woman was handing out orders. He recognized her red hair immediately.

"Sal." He called out. She turned around, smiling warmly despite the bags under her eyes and overall tired look. Sonic imagined this was most possibly stressing her out to the point of troubling her sleep and felt sorry for her. She always had to pay the broken dishes every time there was trouble with the resistance.

"It's been quite a bit, hasn't it Sonic?" She greeted with a hug. Her smile vanished suddenly, a saddened tone in her voice. "It's a disaster isn't it?"

Sally turned around to peek at the damage that Knothole had sustained. Sonic couldn't answer except for pressing his lips together.

Sally frowned, focusing her gaze on two people who were working on the reconstruction. "I should have imagined this was gonna happen."

"Sal." He put a hand on her shoulder in reassurance. "No one could have forseen this, y'know?"

"Still..." She sighed, rubbing her temples. "I don't know."

"Any idea of how they found the zone's coordinates?" Tails asked bluntly, butting in the conversation.

"No, but I have Nicole and Rotor working on an algorithm to relocate Knothole to a different one. Hopefully won't take them long."

"It's gonna be useless unless we know how the Legion did it." Tails answered as if a matter of fact. "Or why they did it. They could come for the rest of the inhabitants."

Sonic frowned, rubbing his nose. "Yeah, it's strange isn't it? They're usually just messing around with Knuckles and the Brotherhood of Old Soots-"

"I'm hearing you."

Knuckles suddenly appeared from behind him. He looked quite unhappy, his face spelling something along the lines of _I can't believe I'm dealing with this again._ The blue one scoffed in amusement.

"I know bud." Sonic commented sympathetically. Knuckles only eyed him, unfazed by his comment.

Sally turned her gaze at the echidna. "Anything back from the guardians?"

"Nothing. I relied the news to my father, hopefully they'll help out."

Uh oh, Sonic thought. That usually meant they were not interested whatsoever, which was unsurprising, but nonetheless irritating. Until how long were they going to let this Legion thing drag on? Sally pinched the bridge of her nose in response, before waving her hand in a dismissive motion.

"We'll get this done Sal, don't worry." He tried to reassure her, knowing how much of a toll this was taking on her. The guilt was probably killing her.

"Yeah, well..." She cleared her throat. "That's not the only issue."

"What do you mean?"

Sally paused for a moment, as if trying to place her words together. "You know Mina Mongoose?"

Knuckles squinted, the upper edge of his mouth curling up. "The singer?"

"Yeah. She's missing."

"Wait, what?"

"She's missing. Along with her mother." She removed her hair from her face.

"You want us to find her too?" Tails asked as she nodded.

"As much as it pains me, yeah." She said, half-jokingly, half-serious.

Sonic chuckled, he remembered how much of an issue that girl had with Nicole and Sally a few years ago, that had probably left a sour taste in her mouth that still remained just as bad.

Sally continued. "As silly as it sounds, her singing is vital to the morale of the army, she's a huge symbol for the resistance."

"Well, if she's with the rest of the abducted, then we're in no luck." Tails lamented. "We literally don't have any clue where they could be."

"Well, I haven't told you everything yet." She smiled smugly like a child who had done something naughty.

"What do you mean?" Knuckles asked.

"Her singing isn't the only reason why she's vital to all of this, but it seems according to our informants that she has escaped the grasp of the legion."

"By herself?"

"No. Apparently Raserei could be involved."

"Who?"

Sonic's eyes shone up, as a million thoughts crossed his head. He smiled without noticing. _Could it be? Could it be him?_

"I've heard about that guy." Tails suddenly spoke. "He's been giving the Legion a hard time as far as I'm told."

"Yeah. He's good at it too." She added. "I've wanted to speak to him regarding the Legionnaires for a long time. Maybe he has some information about why the Legion did _this_."

"Any idea of what he looks like?"

"I know what he looks like." Sonic spoke suddenly, great determination in his voice. "After all, he's _my brother_."

Everyone went dead silent, looks of confusion on everyone's faces.

"Sonic." Knuckles interjected, holding the blue hedgehog by his arm. "Can I talk to you in private? Excuse me Sal."

He set Sonic apart from everyone else as Tails followed behind them. Knuckles sighed. "Sonic, how many times do I have to stop you before you hurt yourself?"

"Knux, come on-"

"We've done this how many times already? How many more times until you understand?"

"You say that as if I were doing for some trivial whatever."

"I never said that." Knuckles sighed in exasperation. "Sonic, believe me. I know, okay? You can't imagine how guilty I feel over what happened, but I can't be dragged along every time you think you have a lead."

"I'm sure this time though Knux. I've been investigating this for _months_. A green hedgehog who's been on the tail of the Legion, seeking for revenge for all they've done to him."

"What-" Knuckles looked at him as if he were crazy.

"Yeah." Tails spoke. "Apparently this has been happening for a long time now. That green hedgehog, Raserei I think, has been destroying Legionnaire bases and their supplies, stealing information, etc. Pretty impressive really."

"And I'm a guardian and I haven't heard of this, ever?"

Sonic shrugged. Knuckles could only sigh. "Sonic, there's over a thousand green hedgehogs all over Mobius, there's no guarantee that one could be Manic."

Sonic smiled. "Yeah, but only _one_ green hedgehog is related to the legion."

Knuckles didn't answer, he rolled his eyes.

"Come on Knux, one last time. It's been so long anyways."

"It could be." Tails suddenly interrupted, startling Knuckles. "It's probably not much of a problem, we're on the Legion's tail anyways. So assuming he's on the same deal, we should encounter him soon enough. Especially with the Tornado X in tow." The young fox smiled.

"That and we too find the Songoose, that's like three birds with one stone Knux, come on."

The echidna raised his eyebrows, Sonic followed suit. "Or four if we count Sonia on the equation, right?" He poked Knuckles with his elbow, who quickly slapped it away.

"Alright whatever. Just- stop that."

"Yes! Thanks bud." He patted Knuckles' head in an exaggerated motion. "I'll tell Sal we are departing ASAP, better we find them before the legion does right?."

He stopped on his tracks, lifting a finger on the air. "I forgot, we gotta make a visit first, Sonia will probably wanna hear this."

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Again, please do leave a review and thank you for reading! 3


	4. Mina: Our Promise

A/N: Sorry for the delay, hope you guys enjoy!

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 **Mina: Our Promise**

"You have to take care of your mom for me, alright?"

She bit her lips nervously, picking at the skin. The little mongoose sad on the ground, her legs crossed. She combed her short, purplish hair out of her eyes, unable to look at the older mongoose that held the sword in his hands.

"Mina-"

"Why do you have to leave dad?"

He didn't answer for a moment, instead looking at her with a regretful expression. "The king has ordered me to, you know I can't disobey."

"I'll fight him then!" She stood up with determination. "I won't let him!"

Her dad chuckled in amusement, placing his hand on her head. "Would you commit treason just for me to stay?"

"Um, well. Maybe." The word "treason" seemed to weigh enough to shake her. The older mongoose could only be amused further.

"Better keep that energy. Your mother will need the support."

"Hmm." She held the small rapier's sheathe close to her body with hesitation, as if to protect it or herself even.

He kissed her forehead tenderly. "Will you do that for me? Just 'till I come back, yes?"

"Mm-hmm."

Months would pass before she noticed her mother weeping bitterly in the kitchen, holding a crumbled letter in her hands.

Mina found herself apologizing mentally to the spirit of her father fourteen years later, as she searched for silhouettes in the ceiling patterns. A sorrowful look rested on her face as she played this memory again in her head, reminding herself of the failure to keep her father's promise.

She held on in the waiting room outside of the hospital dorms, trying to dismiss these thoughts from her head. Although the place was pretty small, she was thankful that she found somewhere to stay at after dragging the unconscious one all the way from the forest to this small town.

"Miss Mongoose?"

She turned around to face the nurse who called her; she had a concerned look on her face. Uh oh, did something happen?

"Is he alright?" she asked.

"The hedgehog's alright, he's stable." Mina sighed in relief. Hedgehog, huh? Although that wasn't surprising all things considered, this part of the continent was highly populated by them.

The nurse continued, tugging on her robe nervously. "Still- the doctor would like to talk to you."

"Oh. Where is he?"

"Down the corridor, follow me."

She did as instructed until she reached one of the dorm rooms. Inside, there was a middle-aged doctor, with a stern expression on his face as he approached her.

"You have a lot of nerve bringing that here," he said scornfully as the nurse closed the door behind them.

"What-"

"You know this is a Freedom Fighter refuge! And you bring a robian?! Are you absolutely insane?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about-"

"Look."

He stepped out of the way for her to see the person who laid in bed. Mina froze.

The first thing she noticed was the metal. His arms, hands and fingers were covered on it, or rather, made of it. She could see his fingers twitch a little in his sleep, making her nauseous.

Join us.

Mina's mind tried to drift away again. She could still hear the screaming.

"You didn't tell me he was a robian!" the doctor suddenly yelled at her, making her feel worse.

"I didn't- I didn't know-"

"You didn't?"

Her eyes turned to peek at the nurse suddenly, who was having some trouble figuring out where to place the IV since his arm was, well, not made of flesh. She watched her as she tried to pin the needle to his knee.

Both women screamed as his arm suddenly moved on his own, grabbing the wrist of the nurse. The doctor looked like he wanted to scream too, that was until they heard a voice.

"I'm not a robian."

The hedgehog let go of the nurse's arm, which she took as an advantage which she took as her chance to get as far away from him as she could. Mina shifted her attention to him in response, with eyes wide as plates.

Despite being a hedgehog, his quills had been cut short at the back of his head, leaving the ones in the front as some sort of mohawk or undercut. His fur was a rich light green and his peach muzzle was decorated with small, youthful freckles. He had soft features, childish even, which were decorated by a series of piercings: Two on his left ear, one on his left brow and a septum nose piercing. He seemed to be her age, if maybe taller by a few inches, and cuts and slashes decorated his muscular body.

What drew her attention the most at that moment however were his eyes, which were a vibrant, unnatural blue His gaze was terrifying and mesmerizing at the same time.

He seemed quite serene after what had just transpired, ignoring all the commotion in the room. Especially the doctor yelling at him.

"You cut through my favorite jacket..." he lamented, shifting himself to a sitting position, holding the scrap pieces of his clothes in his hands. "Geez."

The doctor seemed to have some trouble finding words for a short moment. "I swear if you do anything to-"

"Dude, look." The hedgehog turned at the doctor disdainfully. "If I wanted to do anything, believe me. I would've." He smiled wide; Mina couldn't tell if he was trying to be friendly... or menacing, and it seemed everyone else in the room was in the same place she was.

His smile vanished as soon as he saw all the horrified looks and chuckled nervously. "Come on bro, it's a little joke yeah? You can't seriously think I'm that bad."

As soon as he said this, to the surprise of everyone, his left arm fell from his socket, still connected to it by a long cable. Mina jumped in surprise, a little yelp escaping her lips. She felt lightheaded suddenly, sitting down on the chair behind her.

The hedgehog stared at the arm, seemingly as surprised as everyone else in the room. He turned to face the doctor, his ears tucked to his head while he kept a friendly but uncomfortable expression. "That almost never happens."

The doctor sighed, turning to the nurses. "Bring him a toolbox. Do you know how to repair- uh- yourself?"

"Yeah."

"Very well, just- don't burst your stitches."

After he was stitched up and bandaged, he was given the toolbox, while Mina observed him. He sat upright on the bed, setting his arm over the nightstand. He noticed her looking at him curiously, to which she quickly averted her gaze to avoid getting caught.

What was it with him? Any time she looked at him it was as if she almost forgot what she was doing for a moment, like her mind short-circuited and she could only stare. She felt like she needed to get a grip.

She then noticed him try to reach his left arm socket with his remaining arm, as if trying to get hold of something.

"Would you like me to help?" Mina asked meekly as she stood up from her seat slowly.

"I got it," he said just as a clicking sound came from within his body. He removed a large grey and yellow cable from inside the socket, which was soaked with blood and a gooey substance, placing it over the table. He proceeded then to clean it with a rag he had been previously provided along with the toolbox.

A few minutes went by as he worked on the prosthetic. Mina could only stare as he swiftly and effortlessly worked on his arm, all the more impressive considering that he was working with limited movement.

After a while, he observed the arm, as if trying to remember something, which he quickly brushed away as he secured the large screws on the shoulder of the prosthetic. He finally seemed to be done.

The green hedgehog held the plug of the cable to jam it back into its place. Mina reacted suddenly and hurriedly grabbed the cable without much previous thought. "I'll do it, don't worry."

"I can-"

"I know but..." She felt rather inadequate at that point, she knew she had no right to insist. He could only sigh, probably in defeat.

"'Kay, go ahead."

"Oh? Um, okay, thanks!" She looked around, admittedly a little lost. "What do I do?" she asked, rather embarrassed.

"You see inside here? There's a plug." He pointed at his arm socket with his remaining arm, prompting Mina to look inside. She realized at that moment that she had probably made a mistake by insisting on helping him out. Inside, she could see the muscular tissue and blood from inside his chest cavity. She felt a bolt of nausea at her throat form suddenly.

"You don't have to do this if you don't wanna, you know," he said in concern. He probably had noticed her growing queasy.

"Ah, no! That's okay!" She turned to him while giving a nervous grin, trying to dismiss his worry. "Okay, so... um, I see it, what next?"

"Right. Take the cable and use your hand in to plug it into the socket. Then, screw it in until it clicks and tug on it a little, to see if it's secure."

"R-right."

Although rather dubious at first, she reached into his arm-socket, feeling the walls of muscle tighten around her arm. She felt like fainting at that moment, but kept it to herself as best as she could in order to avoid offending him. After carefully prodding around, she found the socket and jammed the cable in, screwing it in until it clicked, just like he had asked. When she heard it click, she heard a peculiar sound, between a chunk and a grinding sound, which was followed by him grunting in pain.

She gasped, "You okay?"

He sighed in slight frustration. "Can we please just get this over with?"

"But doesn't it hurt?"

"Yeah... but the sooner it's done, the sooner it stops hurting. It's no big deal, really. I'm used to it," he answered. "Hold on." He looked at the arm and touched each of its fingertips with the tip of his thumb, as if checking the mobility of the arm. Mina only raised her eyebrows curiously. "Okay, so now, slide the cable into here and hook the arm in the socket. Do it with force, so it won't fall off."

Mina subconsciously swallowed after hearing those two last words. "Okay." Her voice trembled but she did as instructed, shoving the arm into place as strongly as she could.

"That should do it," He spoke as he stood up from the bed while rolling his shoulders and carefully flexing his arms. Mina peeked at her hands, which were coated with blood and that gooey substance that she had seen before.

"You might wanna wash your hands dude," he commented in a lighthearted tone. She looked back at him, he seemed to be smiling a little. This had her a little mesmerized for a moment, it was the first time she had seen him with an honest smile on his lips.

"Oh, well... yeah. I'll be right back," she said, snapping out of her thoughts before hurriedly walking out of the room and into the restroom.

Locking the door behind her, she instantly puked into the toilet's basin, while in the back of her mind hoping that people wouldn't hear her. The things she had seen, the memories came rushing back to her, triggered by what had just transpired. A while passed until she could get her breathing under control.

"It wasn't my fault."

"I needed to get out, me and my mom."

"I had to."

These were all things that she would tell herself every time she caught her heart and her breath going off the rails, but she found that time after time, it was less and less effective in soothing her guilt.

Mina sighed, choosing to ignore these feelings once again. Maybe eventually things would be better.

She flushed the toilet and washed her face, with every intention to forget what just happened.

The next morning, Mina woke up after a long night of really uncomfortable sleep. Maybe because of her restless thoughts after the attack, or maybe just because of the uncomfortable couch she had spent the night on. Still groggy, she turned to greet the green hedgehog.

Her heart stopped. The bed was empty, the bedsheets removed. Mina jumped from the couch and paced around the room, desperately wondering what to do. Where could he have gone? When did this happen?

As she was about to bolt to the lobby to get help, she heard the window open behind her. Turning around, he saw him crawl from in though the window. He was still shirtless, which admittedly made her blush a little. He was carrying something in his arms, which shone in the morning daylight.

"Morning," he greeted, forcing a little smile.

Mina did nothing but stare at him dumbfounded, she could not even blink. He noticed this after he closed the window, tilting his head a little. "You ok?"

"Where were you?"

"Ah oh. I went for a quick jog." He said while pointing at the outside with his thumb.

"With that wound on you?" Mina asked scornfully.

"Yeah." He seemed to notice her sigh softly. "Relax dude, I've had worse. Believe me."

Mina looked at what he was holding, signalling at it with a jerking movement of her head. "What's that?"

"I found some clothes." He threw the clothes on the bed, holding a black sleeveless shirt that he quickly put on himself. Mina walked over to inspect the sukajan bomber jacket over the bed. It had a beautiful embrodiery with skulls and cherry blossom petals over the dark brown body of the jacket.

"Where did you get these?" she asked, not taking away her eyes from the jacket.

"Found them."

"Just like that?"

"Yeah." Mina eyed him, which in turn made him jerk his head in some sort of offended motion. "Who are you, my mom?"

"I was just asking, it's not like you stole them right?"

He didn't answer, Mina turned to him with a blank expression. "You didn't steal them, right?"

"Anyways! I don't have time for this, I have to get going."

"Where are you going? You're still wounded."

"Well, I can't wait. I need to catch the Legion before the tracks go cold." He reached for a little notebook that the nurses had retrieved from his jacket the night before. Grabbing a pen from the desk, he removed the lid with his teeth, writing something on the page. "Else it'll take me another month to catch up with them," he said, his voice muffled by the pen's lid.

Mina suddenly connected the dots together after hearing his words. Green hedgehog. Robotic Arms. Dark Legion.

She had heard the stories from the Freedom Fighters before.

"You're him."

He took the lid off his mouth, turning at her nonchalantly. "What?"

"The green cyborg hedgehog, the one that's after the legion." She clicked her fingers together. "Um. Ras-ras-ree..."

"Raserei."

"Oh." Mina's eyebrows rose. "Are-are you... are you-"

"Call me Rei," he said nonchalantly, putting on the jacket.

He placed the notebook on the pocket of his jacket without paying much attention to her. "I already paid the bill by the way, thanks for the help earlier."

"Wait."

He stopped on his tracks, his hand on the doorknob. Mina sighed. "Let me go with you."

"Get outta here. No."

"I have no choice!" she pleaded. "My mom was in the train with me, along with my bandmates!"

"Girl, if she's also been captured by the Legion, there's two possible outcomes: Either she's legionized or killed."

Mina didn't speak. She felt hurt by his words, especially since at the bottom of her heart, she knew that was probably the case. And yet, she felt that deep down there was still something she could do.

"All the more reason I have to go."

He sighed, turning around to face her while he rested on the door. "It usually doesn't take them that much to decide what to do with their enemies."

"So what do you suggest I do?" she burst at him angrily. "Stand and watch as they kill my mother and the rest?"

"I never said that-"

"Then what do I do?!"

She was impressed by her own tone of voice; she usually was calm and shy, but the heavy stress could get to her at times. "I'm sorry."

He gave her a dismissive motion. "It's ok."

"I need to do this, you know? And as far as I'm aware, you've been on the Legion's tail for years now. There's no one else who can help me out-"

"Help yourself then dude, keep away from this."

"But-"

"You think I'm joking? How long do you think you'd survive this? A day? Two? Don't kid yourself."

"I can take care of myself," she said sternly.

"Right. Goodbye."

She stopped him again, tugging on his jacket. He remained stiff after he felt her touch, which set her on alert.

"Girl, let go."

"For starters, my name is Mina. And secondly, I am not helpless."

"Okay."

"Listen, just this time. I really need to do this, she's the only family I have." She sighed, her eyes starting to sting. "I know I'm not a fighter, but I can't stand by as they do this. Not anymore. I don't want more guilt on me. So please, let me go with you."

He sighed after a few seconds of silence.

"You know it's useless."

"I have to try, it's the only choice I have."

He did not answer for a moment, prompting Mina to believe that he wouldn't give in. "Alright, sorry to have bothered-"

"You can come."

"Wait, what-"

"You can come with me. I can't promise that you'll find her tho', ok? And I won't be checking on you."

"I know, still... thanks." Mina smiled. "I promise I will-"

"Can you let go of my jacket now, please?"

"Oh, right. Sorry."

* * *

Again, please do leave a review and thank you for reading!


	5. Sonia: A Chance at Redemption

**Sonia: A Chance at Redemption**

She wasn't feeling particularly hungry today, and not even her favorite dessert could change that. She poked the flan with the spoon several times with a numb expression. Bartleby, her fiancé, noticed this.

"My dearest,"

She lifted her face to look at him, still quite vacant. "Hm?"

"You seem rather, uh, absent today. Anything wrong?"

"Oh." She forced a smile, glancing at her plate again. "Nothing much, I'm just not that hungry today."

"I see." He clicked his fingers together, calling for a maid to take her plate away. He clapped his hands together eagerly and suddenly. "Dear Sonia, I needed to discuss something with you."

"Oh, go ahead." She sipped her tea, not minding him much.

"I need to talk to you about our soon-to-be wedding."

She choked on her tea, suddenly making up an excuse about it being too hot. She put the cup down, trying to regain her composure. Bartleby seemed offended, _of course he would be offended, don't be stupid._

"I'm sorry honey." She sighed. "That's not something I've thought about in quite a while."

"Well, it is a good time for you to think about." His tone had a tinge of annoyance on it. "You're 22 now no? A good time for us to think about our future together."

"Yeah."

 _What future? A future with him?_

She could not imagine that, but yet, she could not imagine doing anything else. Not when the only thing you were good at was nobility. She deserved this, after all that had happened, if this was what was destined for her then she'd accept it.

"Do you hear something?" He asked suddenly, bursting her out of her bubble.

Indeed there was a strange sound filling the room, a soft but endless whirr. A maid suddenly went in, quite alarmed.

"Sir, there's an airplane at the entrance."

"What-"

A knock was heard suddenly on the door. The maid left her position to answer, followed by Bartleby. Sonia stood up from the couch, to listen closely.

"Nice house you've got here Bart, I'm impressed."

"Do not call me that. What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to my sister."

Sonia froze, immediately recognizing him. She ran towards the door, scooting Bartleby over delicately. There, a blue hedgehog laid against the door, suddenly regaining his composture. "Sonia!"

She frowned. "Brother?"

"Yup!" She remained wide eyed, which made Sonic drop his happy facade. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

"What are you doing here?" It had been a long time, had it not?

"I need to talk with you, in private preferably."

"Anything you need tell her, can be discussed where everyone can hear." Bartleby declared, annoyed by his presence. Sonic was no different.

"Not today buddy. Sonia, please, it's important you hear this."

His face turned more solemn and she knew this was serious. "Dearest, would you allow me a few minutes?" She asked, as she invited Sonic in. They both walked into the the mansion's beautiful garden. Spring had decorated the cherry trees with dreamy pink flowers, and the hydrangeas had bloomed the most gorgeous purple blossoms. Sonia sat on the bench, not knowing what to think of this sudden visit.

Sonic stood in front of them. "Sorry, I can't have 'dearest' gossiping to Eggman, y'know."

"He's not with Robotnik anymore, at least... not that often anymore."

"Hm." Sonic yawned, he seemed to be preparing his words.

"What is it that you wanted to tell me?"

He sat on the ground, crossing his legs. "I think I might know where Manic is."

She sat there, speechless for a few seconds before putting a hand on her face, rubbing her forehead. "Sonic-"

"Sonia, hear me out, I know-"

"I don't want to. I thought we had talked about _this_."

"I know _that_." He adjusted himself on the ground. "But I have a good lead."

"After five years? For all we know, he's most probably dead."

"But most probably isn't." He shrugged. "Sis, there's a very high chance that this might be him. I know it. Don't you wanna see for yourself?"

"No, I don't. Now please, don't insist. I've had enough of having to-"

"Had enough of talking about your _own brother_?" He scoffed. "How quaint."

She felt a heat build up inside of her suddenly. "How dare you tell me that? Are you implying that I don't care?"

"I never implied that, but I'd like to know why you refuse to talk about this, why you've always refused. It seems years living at the mercy of Eggman's accomplice have turned you insensitive."

She stood up from her seat suddenly. _The nerve of him._ "You think I'm doing this because I _want_ to?"

"I don't remember asking you to seclude yourself!" His voice rose suddenly, startling her a little.

"You know I had no choice! You act as if _this_ didn't hurt me!"

"It hurt me too Sonia! What makes you so special?"

"You weren't the one who _sentenced him to death!_ "

She collapsed in her seat, weeping. He remained in silence as her sobs were the only thing that filled the noise. He stood from the ground to sit next to her on the bench, placing a hand on her back. "You're still blaming yourself for this? This is what it's all about?"

She didn't answer, she had no energy left, or any sort of dignity to try to defend herself anymore, not for this. He sighed while he rubbed her back.

"You know no one could have prevented this."

"Wrong. I could have. _I should have._ "

Indeed there were many precautions she could have taken before launching herself and her brothers into that base. She could have investigated further, she could have planned ahead, she could have planned all from plan A to Z if necessary, and yet, all these years of countless victories had made her _too confident_. She realized what her actions could mean when her brother didn't come back, figuring out later how they had tackled the wrong enemy.

Some would say that at least they didn't trigger an all out war, with the war against Robotnik and all, a war with the Dark Legion could mean more suffering for everyone involved. Yet her brother was a price far too high still, and she knew it, no matter how many times she tried to convince herself of the contrary. She knew it was better for everyone at this point if she remained away, where she could do no harm.

"I know you don't want to hear this, it doesn't really matter anymore what you did or didn't do back then. We were just kids after all."

His words pierced her like daggers, but she managed to scoff back at him still. "I know that very well. But it's not that simple, I can't repent."

He remained silent. "You can."

"Hah. Are you gonna tell me that I could apologize to him _if_ we find him?"

"Would you like that?"

She wiped her tears away, shaking her head. "I don't know."

"Hm. Even so, wouldn't you at least want to talk to him one more time? I know you can't move on that easily, but at least..." She looked at him, he was smiling with most sincerity. "At least it'll help you have some closure, no?"

Sonia sighed, smiling like she had not in all these years. "Yeah." 

* * *

"I'm not sure all these things will fit in here." Tails lamented as he saw the maids place Sonia's stuff forcefully into any spot they could find in the Tornado.

Bartleby cupped her face with both hands. "Please be careful out there, my dearest."

"It won't take me long, I promise." She smiled.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about this?"

"It's nothing really, we'll just... there's things that have to be done."

"Why you though?" He asked, she looked away, trying to avoid eye contact with him.

"I need to get my resolve." She said sadly. "This will be the last time, when I come back, we can talk about the wedding, okay?" She ran a finger through his chest. She could hear her brother gagging, for which he earned a glare from her part.

Bartleby got very cheerful all of a sudden. "Yes, sure."

"Don't tell anyone what I told you, my brother doesn't like that I tell you anything relating to our plans, or the resistance. He still thinks you work for Robotnik."

"Alright. Take care, my dearest future wife."

He kissed her forehead and with that she climbed onto the plane, occupying her place. Knuckles welcomed her.

"It's been quite a while." He said, smiling a little.

She hid her face, not wanting Bartleby to notice her blushing. "Yeah, I missed you."

"I missed you too, it's nice to have you here."

He cut himself short when Sonic swiftly climbed onto the tornado. "Alright you two, cut it out before you make Bart jealous." He said, chuckling. "Sonia, did you know Tails?"

"Yeah, hi." She smiled at the twin-tailed fox, who waved at her happily before turning around for takeoff.

After they left Bartleby's state and flying at several kilometers above earth, she had felt as light as feather, but still felt a certain energy fueling her, pushing her forward. Indeed she'd get her resolve.

* * *

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